Ryan Clark Says Spygate Hurt Integrity Of The Game More Than Bountygate Did

Pittsburgh Steelers safety Ryan Clark was on NFL Total Access Monday evening to serve as a guest analyst and late in the show he sat down with Lindsay Rhodes, formerly known as Lindsay Soto, to talk about the ongoing Bountygate situation.

Rhodes asked Clark if he was interested to see how the New Orleans Saints will be punished and Clark replied, “I am. I\’ve actually have been very involved. Obviously through Twitter, I said something that kind of ruffled some peoples feathers. So I am definitely interested to see how its handled. Obviously with Roger Goodell making player safety his legacy, making player safety his number one priority, there\’s going to be a hefty fine. There\’s going to be some suspensions involved and I\’m kind of interested in seeing how we\’re compared to Spygate. Is this a bigger black eye to the NFL than Spygate was.”

Rhodes then immediately asked Clark how the two should be compared and Clark answered, “To me the integrity of the game was hurt more by Spygate than this situation. I understand with the way concussions are happening, concussion injuries, TBI, also the trauma to the brain injuries increasing, that this is going to be a big deal and the commissioner has to be serious about the way he approaches it. But when you look at actually cheating to win games and to change the outcome of what happens in the NFL, I just feel that is a bigger deal.”

The answers given by Clark were not surprising at all and this has pretty much been his stance on Twitter since the allegations came to light a short time ago concerning the Saints and their bounty program. You can tell that the whole Spygate thing still does not sit well with Clark, and many of the other Steelers for that matter, as both he and linebacker James Harrisonreferenced it following the New England Patriots loss the New York Giants in the Super Bowl.

This will not be the last time you hear Clark comment on both Spygate and Bountygate and I just hope it does not serve as a distraction down the road. You can\’t deny that Clark certainly has a career in broadcasting waiting on him after his playing days are over as he always speaks from the heart on topics and it always invokes huge discussions as a result.